November 30, 2009

Two weeks ago Chandler got out. He was outside with his dad raking leaves and got over (or under or through?) the back fence. Police were called, loving neighbors fanned out, Chandler was found safe, I spent the rest of the day having flashbacks of Ashley's death and a small nervous break down while my dear husband spent it chicken wiring the backyard.

This week out of the blue I got a facebook message from a cheerful young man named Fidel Cabral. He sent me a poem and I wanted to share it with you.

Hello! I am Fidel. Nice to meet you. How are you today?
I am an adult with autism. I was diagnosed when I was in preschool.
Do you have friends/family members with autism?
I have a poem to send you on autism entitled "House Of Locks"...

I hope I can be your facebook friend in the near future and would love to discuss topics related to autism in the near future.
Please send me a reply. Thanks :)

House Of Locks

You know our house on the block,
it's the one they call the house of locks.
We're not worried about what may come in,
What scares us, is what lives within.

No, it's not a monster or a ghost,
but keep on guessing you're getting close.
On every window and door there is a lock,
to keep inside what it is we can not block.

I remember the day my fear began,
the day that we could not find him.
We searched our yard near and far,
and then we found him in the car.

100 degrees or maybe hotter,
quick let's get him in cold water.
No response, to the hospital we go,
"Why", is what the docs wanted to know.

No, we did not put him there,
we tried to make this very clear.
Then we told them what lives within,
we told them docs, "Our son has autism."

Then it seemed they understood,
and did all that they possibly could.
Thank God, our son is doing fine,
and now the house of locks is mine.

I may have to commission a follow up called, "Backyard of Chickenwire".

Citizens Demanding Vaccination Choice Carry Republican Chris Christie To New Jersey Governorship November 3, 2009, Middletown, NJ – In an unprecedented and historic move, Chris Christie put pen to paper last week and made an official campaign promise to citizens of New Jersey in support of vaccination choice. He further cemented his position on live radio with Don Imus, by becoming the first gubernatorial candidate to utter the words vaccines, autism and parental choice in the same sentence. Vaccine choice supporters showed up in record numbers tonight to cast their vote for Christie.

“Tonight, vaccine choice advocates in New Jersey are proud to announce that vaccination choice is officially a voting block,” says Life Health Choices Founder, Louise Kuo Habakus, who met with campaign leaders last December and kept the lines of communication open. “This election is a wake-up call to politicians nationwide. Vaccine choice belongs in the parents’ house, not the Statehouse or the White House.”
After receipt of the official Christie campaign promise on Friday, vaccination choice and autism advocates mobilized in force on the internet. They alerted tens of thousands of supporters, who in turn took to Facebook, Twitter, and their own support group networks to reach hundreds of thousands more. News of Christie’s now famous statement spread like wildfire through the state and across the country:

“I stand by them now, and will stand with them as their governor in their fight for greater parental involvement in vaccination decisions that affect their children… Ending waste in government in order to improve care and services for these unique children and adults, as well as giving parents the choice they deserve in their children’s health care decisions, will be top priorities.”

Anger towards Governor Corzine has been building. It is well known that New Jersey, Autism Capital of the world, is also Ground Zero for mandated shots for school. Many parents and grandparents blame environmental causes, including the state’s ultra-aggressive vaccine schedule. The “Freedom of Choice” rally in Trenton last fall garnered national media attention and catapulted this issue into the mainstream dialogue. On the heels of Corzine’s 2008 decision to add four additional vaccine mandates to the state’s already crowded schedule, thousands of parents have lined up to attend vaccination choice seminars and protests across the state.

In August, Christie and running mate, Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guagdano, met with parents and received an unvarnished assessment of New Jersey’s position on this issue from Habakus: “Fifty percent of Americans in 18 U.S. states including the highly populous, corridor states of California and Texas have vaccination choice. We deserve it here, in the state that leads the nation in autism incidence and the number of mandated shots for school attendance.”

“We look forward to Governor-elect Christie’s leadership and working with the new administration,” says Habakus.